As known, the containers of the above-mentioned type, after having been filled with pourable products or liquids, typically at ambient temperature, are subjected to a capping operation and then fed to a labelling machine for applying respective labels on their lateral surfaces.
In general, ail these machines are part of container handling apparatuses adapted to produce finished containers, i.e. filled, closed and labelled, starting from plastic preforms.
The label application has often a key role in presenting the product to the consumer so as to have a certain appeal. In particular, it is strictly necessary that the label is applied in a correct way on the respective container; in order to obtain this, the label requires to be received on a surface container having a well-defined geometry as well as a sufficient rigidity. This requirement of the receiving surface is particularly important for self-stick labels or pressure-sensitive labels.
As known, plastic containers present on the market have thinner and thinner lateral walls, which are therefore easily deformable and very difficult to be labelled.
In addition, if a label is not correctly applied on the relative container, there are high risks that such label may detach from the container itself during production, with consequent possible hampering of downstream operations.
Furthermore, in the beverage or liquid packing industry, there is a general demand to reduced or at least to avoid increasing, the number of machines present in container handling apparatuses as well as complexity thereof.